True Start was founded by Mark Thompson to help leaders get the best start possible in new assignments.
Our focus on the leader’s onboarding delivers actions and results that:
- Enhance an individual’s effectiveness as a leader, which drives employee engagement, retention and performance.
- Maximize an organization’s recruitment ROI.
Time pressures and competing interests make it difficult to carve out time to plan and reflect on best approaches.
Few leaders are comfortable being completely transparent with a new boss or HR.
A confidential partner helps make sense of the environment, develop strong plans, build trust and get results, fast.
True Start is that partner.
About Mark Thompson, MBA, PCC
Mark Thompson, Coach and Founder of True Start
Mark knows and understands what it means to adjust to change. Growing up in a military family he attended 12 schools before graduating from high school in Colorado. His career prompted 14 additional moves. Mark has lived in North America, Europe, Central America and Asia. That’s a lot of change.
He also understands the transitional needs of individuals and organizations, having hired and onboarded hundreds of leaders as a Human Resources Executive. Mark has led large, complex, international HR teams through significant transformation. His experience spans large industrial companies, internet startups and healthcare.
Mark is a Professional Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation and has an undergraduate degree in psychology and graduate degrees in theology, journalism and business. (Go Tigers and Tar Heels!)
He has coached CEOs, shop floor supervisors and many positions in between.
When not thinking about how to help new leaders to be quickly productive, Mark is an amateur potter, crazy about his dogs, a wannabe tomato farmer and always in search of the world’s best key lime pie.
“Mark provides an opportunity to confidentially discuss topics that may be difficult to do with a manager or peers. He provides a setting to hear fresh, unbiased perspectives on professional or business challenges and drives accountability and commitment on established goals. The coaching methodology used is very effective—asking questions in order for an individual to arrive at a path forward instead of a directive—‘do this.’”
“The coaching program with Mark Thompson was a fantastic experience. Through the program, I was able to better empathize with my internal customers, allowing me to adjust my change management approach on several key projects that proved to be immensely more successful. Additionally, the sessions allowed me to appreciate previously overlooked strengths, helping me to garner more confidence in my personal and professional development.”
“I have found Mark’s coaching sessions to be very helpful. As a plant manager with a busy schedule and an engineering background, it can be difficult to find (and prioritize) the time to reflect on what I can do better from a personnel (and personal) perspective. These sessions have helped me do that. The format of having a coach guide me through my thought process has been very valuable… reflecting on my biggest personal challenges and then constructively reviewing those to establish a path forward. This process has also given me the perspective to reflect more by myself on similar issues. This allows for better solutions even when I am not actively using the coaching sessions to solve those problems.”
“Before we started, I was apprehensive about the sessions. Mark quickly put me at ease and ensured the process was confidential. The topics we discussed allowed me to increase my confidence as a leader and push myself to understand my own behaviors and perceptions. I would recommend this coaching experience to anyone that has the opportunity.”